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Order of Barbarians
Few Barbarians exist in modern times. While once a large and powerful Order, their strength has dwindled over the centuries as the corners of the maps have been filled in and civilization urbanizes the last mysterious regions of the world. However, even in the modern scientific age, there are still places in this world where mysterious lie deep and wonders beyond our known world still dwell. It is in such places as these that you can best be guaranteed to find the Order of Barbarians. Aspect of God: The Primordial Mystery AKA: The Primeval Order, the Primordial Order, the Shapeshifters. Barbarian Degrees Facts: -How things exist today is not how they have always existed, and one of the oldest and grandest questions ever asked has been the origins of the universe. These simple questions, and the concepts behind them, form the pillars that hold up the Order of Barbarians. -The Barbarians represent the mysterious past of all things. Why do things exist the way they are now? Could it have been different? The Barbarians represent the primordial ages of the past when the 'rules' weren't quite so academic and stringent as they are today. This is partly why the signature power of the Barbarians is the ability to shapeshift, because the Barbarians represent a time when all things were more flexible. -Barbarians represent the primordial mystery and power of God, they are not stuck to a single form but instead can shift back and forth between different shapes. Once they were found the world over, from the Native American tribes to the Amazonians, Celts, Vikings, and the Mongols. Those few Barbarian communities still alive today usually only live in the most untouched of wilderness regions. -Barbarians possess the power to shapeshift, able to take the form of whatever they can envision or make physical contact with. -Barbarians prefer the old ways, the way of the sword, the struggle for survival. The modern world is a great mystery to the majority of them. -Not to stereotype, but the Barbarians aren't known for having a great cognitive capacity... they're all about muscle, not so much the brain. Well, at least not the higher functions of the brain, anyway. Fine art and cuisine is simply lost on them. -These guys can take a ton of damage and keep going. Barbarians are physically tough, their Order represents the primeval struggle for survival, so each of them is going to be the product of years spent ferociously battling for life and limb. That kind of lifestyle is bound to breed a tough and regenerative creature. -In the wilderness, the Barbarians are at home. They possess close connections to the Order of Druids, the Order of Remnants, and the Order of Creationists. They tend to dislike the Ruling Orders, however, and keep their distance from them. -Modern day Barbarians don't actually run around in loincloths and wield huge battle axes (well, maybe the latter to an extent). When encountered, they're more likely to be working in an outdoor profession or something that allows them to earn a living while remaining on the outskirts of society. -Battle Axes are considered by many to be an important symbol of the Order. -Barbarians don't really have Chantries. That tradition is too urban for their Order. They do, however, have recognized places deep in the wilderness where some of the primordial energies of the Many-Of-Forms still reside. Barbarians can sense these energies and are drawn to them, forming tight-knit clans devoted to defending such places. -The Barbarian Order practices a strong oral tradition, even to this day. Most people don't often associate the Barbarians with being knowledgeable, but the truth is that the average Barbarians will be quite proficient in the Old Ways. Children of the Many-Of-Forms: Like the concepts underneath its existence, the Many-Of-Forms is difficult to pin down into a single definition. Adepts from other Orders, upon hearing Barbarians speak of it, often mistake it for the Maelstrom of the Marauders or perhaps a Totem of the Creationists. The Many-Of-Forms is none of these things but a single entity in and of itself. The Many-Of-Forms represents the lost potential(s) of the past, all the various ways things could have been but weren't. While people often think about how things are or what already exists, the Many-Of-Forms represents all the infinite other ways things could have turned out but didn't. Barbarians are connected to the Many-Of-Forms by dint of their own inner nature. They, too, represent the lost potential of the past. While other organisms are locked into a single form thanks to eons of evolution, the Barbarians can defy the laws of reality and willingly shift between forms. Bestial Fury: Barbarians signature powers are increased physical toughness, enhanced strength, increased instinct, and above all, the power to shift their physical form. But another power common throughout the Order, and for which they are known for, is their bestial fury. Barbarians have hot tempers that flare easily, and the wrath of a Barbarian is difficult to quench. Not only this, but when in a rage state, Barbarians are often inert to pain, resistant to toxins, and for a limited time immune to spell-casting from magick-users! Kin of the Shapeshifters: The Shapeshifters, the Werewolves, Werebears, etc., that inhabit the world are the descendants of the First Shamans who long ago made primordial pacts with the Great Totems. They did this in order to convince the Great Totems to help protect fledgling mankind against the terrors of the primordial world. But in doing so, they also gave birth to several Supernatural races inherently connected to the Many-Of-Forms. For all Werecreatures represent the power to defy convention through their shapechanging, harkening back to the lost potential that is the Many-Of-Forms. Nomadic Tendencies: Barbarians can form collectives together, but these are often large, loosely organized things. Barbarians, at their core, are rugged individualists and they prefer to rely only on themselves and the strength in their own arms before that of others. Also, Barbarians tend to exhibit a strong wanderlust and will travel vast distances quickly, even if for no other reason than to see what is on the other side of the landscape? Taint of Chaos: Adepts, with the exception of a few, generally avoid anyone associated with the cosmic power of Chaos. Yet the Barbarians get along with their agents just fine most of the time, and what's more, the agents of Chaos (ie, the Marauders, Orcs, etc.) normally seek out nearby Barbarians as allies. Other Adepts have postulated that the power to shift inherent within the Barbarians is similar to the core nature of Chaos. Hence, those who worship Chaos see something of their ideals within the Order of Barbarians. Troglodyte Form: Barbarians can take on the forms of animals, they can also assume a giant, hybridized form of any animal, combining it loosely with human physiology. This, effectively, gives them the power of the Many-of-Forms rolled into one. Barbarians in their Troglodyte Form are often mistaken for Werewolves or members of the other Shapeshifting races. Factions: -Beast Rider = These Barbarians train and ride great beasts of strength, or even mythical animals if possible. -Mongols = Master horse riders, they inhabit the lands of Mongolia. To this day, Adepts who travel across the great expanses of central Asia will inevitably run into roaming packs of these Barbarians. -Noble Savage = This Faction is for the occasional Barbarian who hails from the modernized, urban world but who wishes to get back in touch with primordial nature. They have given up on modern life and now live in the stretches of untapped wilderness. -Rednecks = A tongue-in-check Faction for those who identify with deep rural life. Emphasis on the word 'deep.' References: -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iw_RD_h6bc -http://www.christianbook.com/the-barbarian-way-erwin-mcmanus/9780785264323/pd/64329 -http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/fletcher.html -http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/barbarian_breakthrough.html -http://www.barbariankeep.com/history.html -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082198/ -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180679/ -http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52729/barbarian-invasions -http://www.knowth.com/the-celts.htm -http://www.history.com/shows/vikings/about -http://swordandsorcery.org/ -http://www.swordsandsorcery.com/ -http://na.leagueoflegends.com/ -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209/ -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112573/ -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154147/[[Category:Shapeshifters]]